Heat make Game 4 the story, not the juicy storylines

May 19, 2012|By Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel

INDIANAPOLIS — As Dwyane Wade leaned against a brick wall along the practice-court sideline at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, he attempted to refocus this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers.

"Right now," he said, "the only thing that matters to me is that we're down 2-1. We've got to find a way to get 2-2."

He paused, as if to reset all that has been swirling about the Miami Heat.

"Storylines," he said, "we're used to that. We've been dealing with storylines the last two seasons."

Saturday for the Heat was about separating what matters from the matters that have complicated this series, which continues with Sunday's 3:30 p.m. Game 4 on the Pacers home court.

"Our communication sometimes is not for everyone's living room, but it's normal in our living room," Spoelstra said, after bypassing practice and a media session Friday. "That's the least of our concerns the last few days. We're down 2-1. That's taking all of our energy."

Wade agreed.

"Me and coach have been together for nine years in some capacity," he said of their tied Heat tenures. "We've had many different conversations, some like that and some not. It wasn't the first, it won't be the last. We know how to move on from things and we know each other wants the best for each other. There's no harm done. We're a family.''

That doesn't mean the series is now devoid of tough talk, not with Pacers forward Danny Granger saying he has no plan to back down after picking up technical fouls in incidents with Heat forward LeBron James the past two games.

For his part, James laughed off the tough talk.

"I'm not no monster; this ain't no horror movie," he said. "I'm not trying to scare nobody. I'm trying to play basketball. He's got to hype himself up to say he's not scared of me? Have I ever been intimidated by anybody in this league? I don't think so. I go out and play my game and let my game do the talking."

And that is where the Heat insist they stand, at a point where they hope their game can do the talking.

"We're down 2-1," Spoelstra said, "that's taking all of our energies and our focus, how we can play much better."

Foremost is getting Wade going, after a 2-of-13 shooting performance in Thursday's Game 3 dropped him to 31 percent from the field in this series.

"It's my responsibility," Spoelstra said, "to make sure he gets to a place where he’s comfortable, where he can be aggressive."

Wade said it's his place to push past the nagging ailments that have required extra treatment these past few days.

"I've had times where I haven't felt great physically and I have to beat you with my mind," he said. "At this point it is about being a complete player and helping your team other ways."

That's because the clock is ticking. With a loss Sunday, the series could be over as soon as Tuesday's Game 5 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

"We want to make it a three-game series, with us regaining homecourt," James said. "We're a confident bunch. We didn't play well in Game 3, so we have an opportunity to go out and make amends and try to bring it back to our house with the series tied 2-2.''

After starting center Dexter Pittman and forward Shane Battier in place of Ronny Turiaf and Udonis Haslem in Game 3, as he continues to try to work around the lower-abdominal strain that has All-Star power forward Chris Bosh sidelined, Spoelstra said he again would delay announcement of his lineup until closer to Sunday's opening tip.

He also spoke of getting Wade and James involved together in more pick-and-roll situations, as he tries to awaken what has become a dormant offense in Bosh's absence.

"We have to use everything that we have right now, to be able to generate shots," he said. "We can generate enough open looks. We have to take advantage of those ones and hopefully play in transition a little more than we have the last two games."